DA: Man faked custody agreement to co-opt son's welfare benefits

A Brewerytown man is accused of forging a court-ordered custody agreement for his 14-year-old son and attempting to use the bogus document to co-opt the teen's Social Security and welfare benefits.

Shawn Pickett, 42, was arrested Tuesday night. Prosecutors said Tabitha Allen, the mother of Pickett's son, first noticed something was amiss on Dec. 11, 2013, when she went to a Social Security office to get printouts of her income.

The front desk clerk told Allen that, due to a change in custody status, she was no longer listed as the payee for her son's Social Security check, according to investigators.

The state Department of Public Welfare also contacted Allen and informed her that her son's benefits would be sent to Pickett because officials had received an order giving him full custody, prosecutors said.

The department provided Allen with a copy of the order, dated Sept. 2, 2013. Allen gave the document to Philadelphia Family Court, which passed it on to the District Attorney's Office for investigation. Both Allen and the judge whose signature appeared on the order confirmed they did not sign it, prosecutors said.

Pickett, of the 2800 block of West Oxford Street, is charged with two counts each of forgery, attempted theft by deception, tampering with public records or information and tampering with records or identification, along with submitting a claim with false information. His bail was set at 10 percent of $25,000, court records indicate.

Pickett was already in jail after he was sentenced earlier this year to six to 23 months' imprisonment on unrelated charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment and violating a protection order, according to court documents. He is due in court June 6 for a status hearing in connection with the most recent charges.